After the Grasser case: Engines from Preining, Engel, and Wittmann collected!

– Unusual image in the Manthey box: The engine of Thomas Preining’s “Grello” was completely removed at 4:30 p.m. after the Sunday race of the DTM at the Nürburgring and lies on a workshop trolley. Next to it: Technical commissioners from Dekra, who monitor on behalf of the rule keeper DMSB (German Motor Sport Federation) to ensure that no tampering can be done to the engine.

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The same is happening simultaneously in the Winward box with the Mercedes-AMG-GT3 of DTM leader Maro Engel and the Schubert BMW of Marco Wittmann. But what is behind it?

“For the race weekend at the Nürburgring, the routine inspection of the engines of three vehicles was scheduled after the Sunday race,” the DMSB reports. This is “not an indicator of any special suspicion.”

Why exactly Engel, Preining, and Wittmann?

The engines sealed by the manufacturer must be removed at the track and then packed in boxes that are also sealed. A few days later, the engine is completely disassembled and checked under the supervision of the DMSB by the team to ensure that the parts comply with the homologation.

“Normally they come to us to disassemble it,” says Thomas Jäger, who acts as Sporting Director for the DTM area at Mercedes-AMG. Why exactly were the engines of those three drivers taken?

According to the DMSB, it was already decided before the weekend that after the Sunday race, the engine of the DTM leader, the first chaser in the championship – in this case Engel and Preining – would be taken. In addition, the engine of the race winner, Wittmann, is taken.

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If Engel or Preining had won, the third engine taken would have been that of the third-placed driver in the championship – Nicki Thiim.

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It is noticeable that technical post-race inspections have become more frequent recently: after the Sunday race, the wheel bearings of the top 4 vehicles – winner Mirko Bortolotti, Preining, Engel, and Marco Wittmann – were collected and checked in a laboratory.

In Bortolotti’s Lamborghini, a modified wheel bearing was found, which is why the Italian was at least provisionally – as the Grasser team announced an appeal – disqualified from the victory.

AMG official Jäger: “It sends a signal to me”

Jäger is an advocate of strict controls. “It is good and important that controls are carried out because the series has a certain level of professionalism,” says the Sporting Director of the DTM area at AMG. This is also necessary “to earn respect and discipline the entire field. That sends a signal to me.”

It is not unusual that controls are more frequent at this stage of the championship. Already in 2023, after the penultimate weekend, the engines of the top 3 in the championship were collected and – as now – disassembled under supervision. At that time, these were also the “Grello” Porsche of Preining, the SSR Lamborghini of Bortolotti, and the Abt Audi of Ricardo Feller.

Last year at the Nürburgring, suspension mounting brackets were removed and checked, at the Sachsenring the differentials, and in Spielberg the transmission units. In no case were irregularities found in 2025.

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